PREPARATIONS FOR DEPARTURE--OFF FOR FOREST AND JUNGLE--A HERD OF
ELEPHANTS--WE CAMP FOR THE NIGHT--NDOVA CALLS MONKEYS OF HIS TRIBE
WITHIN RANGE--WE KILL TWO OF THEM--FEEDING ON ROAST MONKEY--A DESERTED
HOUSE--A STORY OF WITCHCRAFT
A SHORT time after I received these gifts from Rotembo, I made
preparations to enter the great forest, to live with Rogala,
Shinshooko, and Alapai, and Andekko the dog, and Ndova the monkey.
I put all my things together,--the precious tin box containing my
sextant, etc., matches, and a bottle containing my quicksilver, a
little iron pot, a frying-pan, a small coffee-pot, three pairs of laced
boots, some fire steel with flints, files, two axes, one machete, and
some medicines. I took also a shot-gun, my rifle "Bulldog," and a
lighter rifle, powder, and ammunition.
When everything was ready, I called Rogala, and showing him the
"precious box," I said to him: "Of all the things I possess, I think
most of this box. You alone shall carry it on your back,, and no one
must ever open it, for if he does, great misfortune will happen to
him."
At daylight the following morning we loaded our canoe with my outfit,
Rogala carrying my "precious box." Rotembo and his people followed us
to the shore, and when we were ready to start, in a loud voice Rotembo
invoked the spirits of his ancestors, Kombe and others, to follow me.
After we had left I saw him seated on the ground before his little
idol, talking to it. The last words we heard from him were: "Rogala,
take good care of the Oguizi. Good-bye, Oguizi;" and after passing a
bend of the river we lost sight of the village.
The prow of our canoe was a carved crocodile head with an open mouth
holding a man between its jaws.
Ndova and Andekko had been tied near it. Ndova uttered the peculiar
intonation meaning pleasure. Andekko was wagging his tail and looking
at Rogala. Both seemed to know that they were going home.
During the day we saw swimming in the stream a number of elephants.
They were playing and throwing water high into the air with their
trunks. They swam hither and thither, and as we came nearer we saw
that each elephant had a little baby elephant apparently standing on
the back of its mother. Rogala was in a state of great excitement; he
wanted to land and walk along the banks of the river and have a shot
at the elephants. "No," said I, "each of these elephants has a little
one to care for."
Further on we saw in the distance, near the other bank of the river,
two canoes descending the stream. They were full of men in war-paint
and armed with spears and war-axes. They were singing their war-songs
and beating their tomtoms fiercely. Rogala's face became anxious. I
asked who they were.
"I do not know, Oguizi," he replied.
Instantly we laid hands upon our guns ready to fight, but when we were
near enough to hear the warriors' song of victory, Rogala recognized
that they belonged to the clan of Rotembo. But we were paddling so near
the banks of the river that they did not see us.
Towards evening Rogala, pointing to a spot near the river, said:
"Oguizi, this is a place where I camp for the night when I am on the
river. Close by is a beautiful little spring of clear water coming out
of the earth, cool and delicious to drink. We never drink the water
from running rivers when we can help it."
I answered: "All right, Rogala; we will camp where you say."
Accordingly we made camp here and passed the night. The following
afternoon we entered a narrow river and left the large Ogobai. We had
not been two hours on our way up the river when Ndova began to utter
loud and peculiar sounds.
"Ndova is calling the monkeys to come to him," said Rogala. "If they
come we shall have monkey meat for our evening meal."
As he spoke, he grinned with delight; but there were no monkeys within
the sound of Ndova's voice.
After a while, however, the call of Ndova was answered by a troop of
monkeys, and they seemed to have quite a conversation together, though
the voices of the monkeys did not seem to come nearer.
"The monkeys are trying to make Ndova come to them," Rogala said.
Then came a pause, and the forest became still again. But soon Rogala's
quick ears heard the noise made by the shaking of the branches of
trees. The monkeys were travelling towards us, leaping from branch to
branch, bending them by their weight as they alighted upon them.
Ndova was making an awful noise and was very excited. The monkeys
answered him, and he kept on calling them. We were paddling silently
along the banks of the river, and as soon as we saw the monkeys on a
tree above our canoe we stopped. They were many in number, and looked
at Ndova without uttering a sound, they seemed so astonished. We
raised our guns and aimed at the two biggest white-nosed ones and
fired. One fell into our canoe, the other dropped dead by the shore.
The rest scuttled away in a trice.
"Good for you, Ndova," I said to him.
Ndova was in a great state of excitement. Rogala, holding his cord,
took him towards the two dead monkeys. When he came near them he
uttered other sounds, quite unlike those he had made when he called
the monkeys to us. What he meant neither Rogala nor I could tell.
But I said to myself: "Rotembo is right. Ndova will be the cause of
our having food and we shall feed often on monkey meat. We shall not
starve as long as Ndova is with us. Great, indeed, is the gift of Chief
Rotembo!"
A few miles further on we landed. In a short time we were seated by a
bright fire, and when it had been reduced to a great mass of charcoal
we roasted one of the monkeys and with our roasted plantains made a
delicious meal. Andekko fed on some of the bones, and Ndova on a ripe
plantain.
At dawn of day we left our encampment. About two hours afterwards we
came upon three little houses surrounded by plantain trees. The houses
were in a dilapidated state and had been abandoned. The large bunches
of plantain that were hanging from the trees were untouched, for the
elephants and the big apes, the "men of the woods," had not found the
plantation.
Some time before we had reached the place Rogala's face had become
uneasy. He took to the opposite bank of the river. I could see fear on
his countenance. He paddled faster than ever, and his mind seemed quite
relieved when we had left the spot far behind us. Then he stopped,
tied the canoe to a tree to rest a while, and said: "Two dry seasons
ago there lived on the plantation we have passed a man by the name of
Igala. His wife was called Yienoo. Both were sorcerers, and had been
so for a long time, though the people did not know it. Near them was a
village. One day one of the men of the village was trampled to death
by a bull elephant, and there was great sorrow among the people. The
day after a leopard came into the village at night and carried away a
woman. The people began to think it was strange that those two deaths
should occur one immediately after the other, and they became much
alarmed, and believed that witchcraft was the cause of the trouble,
but no one suspected who the sorcerers were. Some time afterwards a
man disappeared and never came back. After this the people were so
much excited that they sent a messenger to a celebrated 'medicine
man' who was known all over the country for his skill in discovering
sorcerers. They promised to pay him two slaves if he would come. The
name of this great 'ooganga,' or medicine man, was Makoonga; he is
living now. He sent word by the messenger that he would come after his
return from another village where he was going to find out who had
killed by witchcraft the brother of the chief.
[Illustration: "_We raised our guns and aimed at the two biggest
white-nosed ones and fired._"]
"There was great joy in the village when the messenger brought back
word that Makoonga was coming. Three days after the return of the
messenger another man disappeared, and remains of his body were
discovered, showing that he had been devoured by a leopard. Then all
the people said that some one among them had changed his shape and
turned into a leopard, that he had eaten up the three persons who had
disappeared, and had also taken the shape of an elephant and trodden
upon the man who had been killed in that way.
"There was no more sleep in the village. The people danced all night,
and called upon the spirits of their ancestors to protect them from
witchcraft. They made invocation to their idol and to the spirits Mburu
and Abambo.
"Then Makoonga came, and the following day the people met, and he
drank the 'mboundou' before them, and after drinking it he became
possessed of the power of divination, and told them that Igala and
Yienoo through witchcraft had taken the shape of leopards and eaten up
the three people, and that Igala had taken the shape of an elephant and
trampled the man.
"There was a great uproar amongst the people when they heard this.
They went to the home of Igala and Yienoo and brought them to the
village. They had to drink the 'mboundou' to prove their innocence in
the presence of all the people. Makoonga made the potation, drank part
of it first, and then handed the bowl to Igala and Yienoo. They had
hardly tasted it when they fell on the ground. That was the proof that
they were guilty, and the people surrounded them and cut their bodies
into a hundred pieces and then threw them into the river. Oh, Oguizi,"
exclaimed Rogala, in concluding his story, "often witchcraft comes into
people without their wishing it and against their will."
After this narrative he untied our canoe and we continued our ascent
of the river. After a long pull he suddenly headed our canoe towards
the shore, and after passing under the branches of trees that almost
touched the water we came to a path which no one coming up or down
the river could detect. This path led to Rogala's place. Ndova uttered
grunt-like sounds of satisfaction; Andekko barked to show his joy. They
knew they had come home; they were well acquainted with this spot.